Wild Plum (Prunus americana)

[upstatenybowyer]

Been wanting to try this wood for some time and I finally scored a nice sapling today. I know Baker discusses plum quite a bit in TBB 3 (I think it's 3), but I wanted to see if any PAs had some experience to share. I was thinking about going about it in a fashion similar to Baker's- long D bow. How bout' heat treating?

Thanks!

[DC]

It checks easy. That's all I know. There's a piece standing in the corner of the shop waiting for me to get to it

[joachimM]

I made a plum bow recently from a branch 3.5 cm in diameter, with recurves, 155 cm (61"), c. 50# at 28". Since it's obviously quite crowned on the back, I didn't want to heat treat the belly.
To avoid checking during curing, I cut a shallow kerf with a table saw 1 cm or so along its entire length, and that's where it checked further over its entire length, opening itself for 1.5 cm. A few months later, I cut it entirely in two with a table saw, and turned one half into a bow. Recurved the tips with steam (4 cm or so). Had to glue a handle to it and still keep the handle working without it popping off. That was the hardest part...

The bow is a dream, taking virtually no set. Maybe 0.5 cm after shooting, returning to straight within minutes.

I've made a few other plum sapling/branch bows in the past. Superb wood if you ask me, strong in compression. but mind pins on top of the crowns, or laterally on the belly. I once had an explosive break of a heavily crowned plum shorty (50" drawn to 26"), where I suspect a lateral pin at the surface of the belly weakened the belly to the point that the neutral plane suddenly moved towards the back of the bow, leading to a bow breaking as a result of a compression failure.

[upstatenybowyer]

Thanks. That's plenty of good info to chew on

[Badly Bent]

I recently received a plum bow from Idaho Matt in a trade. I have no experience with it as a bow wood myself but this one Matt made me sure is nice.
Lots of nice knotty character, smooth drawing and sweet shooting and holds a lot of reflex unbraced. Maybe Matt will see this thread and relate his experience with plum as a bow wood.
Here's a few pictures, I apologize for the poor picture quality, my phone takes lousy pics and doesn't really do the bow justice. The snake skin backed yew bow to the right of the plum bow was another beauty I recently received, this one a creation of wizard goat.